Lost in Shadow
by Rainbow Cornflake
Summary: Sickness, love, and death - Chloe Saunders is dangerous. Afraid to share the truth in the midst of lies, how far will she go to "protect" those she cares about? Chlerek.
1. Into the Woods

**Chapter One:**

Into the Woods

 _The girl weaves through the forest, the soft padding of her feet the only other noise against the whispering of the pine needles. She is careful not to make a sound, and guided by moonlight, she leaves the place she once called home in the shadows. Her sure footing stumbles as the night continues, and when she does fall, no steady arms catch her, much to her dismay. She can only heft her small backpack higher and continue, scratched and bruised, inside and out, forcing the memories down._

 _But when she stops to sleep, a certain pair of emerald eyes haunts her dreams._

...

I yawn, stretch my arms, and grope for my alarm clock. _What time is it? Why is it so bright in my room?_ Catching only a handful of air, I reluctantly open my eyes. The sun was making its way up in the sky, a brilliant fiery orb against the pale blues and yellows, and I was comfort-ably situated on a bed of leaves... _what?_ The fogginess of sleep gone, I sit up straight and let the gravity of last night hit me. Groaning, I crawl towards my pack, but a sharp pain slices my knee. "Ahhhh," I wince, probing for the injury. Blood is seeping out of a reopened scrape, leaves and dirt sticking to the dark red liquid. I can't let this get infected; I can't go back to _them_. I can already hear the others, see the hurt in their eyes, the unspoken question on their lips. _Why? Why, Chloe?_ I'll never be able to explain, let alone get past my stutter, and that'll land me right where I was before. Trapped. Volatile. A danger... they just don't know it yet.

Dabbing it with a clean cloth and wasting as much water as I could spare, I cleaned my wounds and pulled out my slightly sticky map (how did it get like that?). The nearest town was a good ten miles away, and knowing it was too soon to start walking by the highway, I could only accept that it was going to be a long trek through dense forest. I wolfed down an energy bar and zipped my backpack up, making quick progress through the thicket I was in. It was too early for them to notice I was gone, but when Kit and Derek come home from their trip to find three sleeping bodies instead of four... it would be good to have some distance between us.

By noon I was sweaty and tired, so I stopped by a small creek to replenish my resources. I indulged myself and sat underneath the shade of the trees, a small breeze tickling my skin and the sun peering at me through the leaves. My eyelids began to droop...

 _I'm sitting on the beach, fingering a seashell in the white sugar sand. The waves lap along the shore gently, and I find myself the only one here to enjoy the sea. Quietly watching the waves, I realize I'm not as alone as I thought. A familiar head of long, black hair is in my peripheral, and I turn my head to face him._

 _"Derek?" I ask, the stab of recognition sends my heart hammering. His warm fingers intertwine with mine._

 _He is silent for a moment. Softly, I hear him say, "Where are you? Why can't I find you?" His eyes meet mine, and the conflicting emotions in those green, green eyes pulls at the strings to my heart. I see fear, confusion, anger..._

 _I lower my eyes. "I-I can't tell you t-that." Our hands seperate._

 _"Why not? You leave - no note, no explanation, just gone, right in the middle of the night. Dad and I come home and your Aunt is crying, muttering on the floor how she's failed, Simon is looking for you, and Tori... Tori is just silent, sitting at the edge of her bed staring at your side of the room." His eyes blaze with green fire as he speaks. I find it difficult to swallow. "What's wrong? We need you, Chloe... I need you." His voice cracks at the end, and I know he's expecting me to explain._

 _And I want to, I want so desperately to tell him why I had to leave, how my presence endangers all of us, how this was the only option, but I have taken too long to answer. He rises, back turned to me, walking away, out of my dream, out of my life._

 _"W-wait Derek! Don't leave me!" I scramble up, feet slipping on the wet sand, salty air filling my lungs._

 _He stops and turns his head to look at me. "Don't you get it?_ You _left_ me _." He walks on, but before he's out of sight he calls, "Tori, take me out. She's not coming back."_

 _And the dream shatters, a thousand pin points of light pricking my brain, colors bleeding, shards flying, the smell of burnt toast in my nostrils, and one fact rising from the chaos: it was all that sneaky witch's magic._

I jolt awake, gasping for air and clutching my skull. The fiery pain running in circles around my brain subsides, but I still feel... violated. The innermost depths of my subconscious had been invaded and used against me, leaving me feeling betrayed and uncomfortable. _What are you talking about? You left them. If anyone's been betrayed, it's not you._ I sigh, and rubbing my eyes, I get up. It's late afternoon and I curse myself for falling asleep; I'll have to make up for lost time tonight.

Twigs snap under my tired feet, but I don't bother to quiet my footsteps. I stop for a drink of water, thankful of the conveniently placed creek on my right. _Snap. Snap._ I freeze, water dribbling down my chin. I look at my still feet and the icy tendrils of fear creep up my insides. _If that wasn't me, then who was it?_


	2. Derek: Back at Home

**Chapter Two:**

Derek : Back at Home

June 28th wasn't the worst day of my life.

But honestly, when the girl you love leaves without a trace, everything else pales in comparison.

 _Flashback_

 _I drag my feet up to the doorstep, exhausted from Dad and I's trip in search of Rae. Our efforts were in vain though, not that it surprised me. She didn't want to be found. Period. Hand raised to knock on the door, my heightened hearing caught sounds of... sobbing? Sniffling? I twisted the handle and threw open the door, but nothing could have prepared me for the scene I came home to._

 _Dr. Fellows was on the floor crying, muttering how she's failed, how she never was a good replacement mother, rambling how she drove her niece away. Her words confused me, and the creeping feeling of unease settled in my stomach. I needed to know what was going on, but I knew Lauren couldn't provide the answers I needed in her hysterical, dishelved state. Where was Simon? What was wrong? I thundered up the stairs of our rented house, tearing apart the upstairs with my eyes, but Simon was not in our room. Chloe could explain this... right? I knocked on the door to her and Tori's split room._

 _Silence._

 _I knocked again. "Chloe?"_

 _Silence._

 _I opened the door and quietly peeked was perched at the edge of her bed, staring at the other side of the room. Chloe' s side. A side very much lacking looked from me, to her water glass, then to her still pajama-clothed self._

 _"She's gone." She states simply, but her eyes look confused._

 _"What do you mean 'she's gone'?" I growl. "How could you let this happen?" My knuckles are turning white, and I unclench my fists._

 _"I. Was. Drugged." She snaps, punctuating her sentence with a stab towards the glass of water by her bedside, white powder settling to the bottom._

 _Her words hit like a slap to the face. Chloe couldn't do that; gentle, shy Chloe wouldn't drug her friends and leave in the night. Would she?_

 _End of Flashback_

"What do we do now?" Simon asks, clearly as frustrated as the rest of us. "Your dream spell didn't do anything for us, Tori, and now she'll just be more guarded."

"I don't recall you making any suggestions," Tori fires back, "and my spell would have worked if _Derek_ had been more persuasive with her." Her vicious gaze shifts to me. "You can chew her out _when she's back,_ but now our whole plan is fu-"

"That's enough." Dad is standing in the corner of the room, arms crossed, lips forming a disapproving line. "We don't have time to point fingers. Chloe could be anywhere right now, and if you can't put your differences aside, she's as good as dead." His voice is even, but his outburst shocks Tori and Simon into silence. I turn my head away, sinking into the shame I feel. I should have given Chloe a chance to explain; I shouldn't have stalked off and given up... but God, sometimes I just lose it. And now Chloe is truly gone.

 _Chloe._

Her name cuts my heart. I can see her strawberry blonde hair, her sparkling blue eyes, her small, bird-like frame. I see the girl who was always there for me when I Changed, never afraid, even as I morphed into the monster that I am. _Where are you? Why did you leave us, why did you leave me?_ I feel empty, withdrawn deeper into the layers of myself. Even now I can't deny the pull I feel, connected to her by invisible strings, and I know I won't feel whole again until she is by my side. "Um... guys... what if she just doesn't want to be found? We're kinda missing a lot of the story here..." Simon tries to break the uncomfortable silence. The fact that he's already suggested to throw in the towel only makes my foul mood worse.

"You guys just don't get it, do you?" Nervous laughter bubbles out of Tori, and all heads turn to face her."In here, Chloe is _special._ She's a powerful necromancer, a force to be reckoned with. _She can raise the dead._ But out there," her hands spread out, palms faced up, "she's just another crazy girl, talking to herself, wandering the streets. She'll be _eaten alive._ So if you're going to sit here, piecing together the story and feeling sorry for yourself, then I'm glad she ran away, because we are really crappy friends." Her eyes burn into mine, daring me to disagree with her. "Unless you all get off your butts and decide to find her." She storms out of the room, her words still floating in the air. _She's right..._ I jump up, snatch my jacket off the table, toss it to Simon, and head for the door.

"Where are you going?" Simon asks, trying to keep up with me.

"I have a scent to track." And with that kernel of wisdom, I run into the forest, leaving my adopted brother in the dust.

...

I'm in the clearing, lying on my stomach in the grass, willing myself to Change. Uncertain thoughts run in my head. _I can't do this without Chloe..._

 _You have to do this_ **for** _Chloe,_ a voice in my head reminds me.

I take a long shuddering breath and focus my energy on the transformation. Almost immediately, I feel my blood begin to boil. Sweat runs down my face, down my neck, and is rolling across my back. My muscles, taut with tension, begin to spasm uncontrollably, jumping beneath my rippling skin. My bones melt and grind together, the joints popping in an out, and I can feel my whole bone structure bend and twist like putty. "Ahhhhhhhh!" I cry out as my spine shoots upward. _Crrrrack!_ I can feel each individual vertebrae rolling and repositioning itself, and a coarse layer of hair sprouts over my body. The plates of my face meld and remesh together into a snout; my eyes water and I know they're changing shape as well. The waves of agony and pain are relentless, traveling up my body like liquid fire. Nothing left in my stomach, I can only dry heave, gasping for air like a fish out of water. I'm growing, stretching, ripping apart and stitching myself back together. My fingers retract and are replaced with massive paws, gleaming nails just underneath.

When I finally lift my head, exhausted but determined, it is through the wolf's eyes that I see the world. I look around, half forgetting I'm alone out here, and miss the small hands that would rub my back, telling me I was okay. I miss the feeling of having her curled up by my side, cool fingers in my thick coat. The stabbing pains of loneliness cut me, and raising my head to the sky, I let loose a long, mournful howl; I voice all the pain, misery, and heartbreak I've felt in the last twelve hours in one piercing note, and as I leave one thing rings true: I will find her at all costs.

My nose twitches. I smell something sweet, like strawberry shampoo and almonds, wafting in the air amongst the pine trees.

And so the search begins.

 **And that's chapter two guys! Please review and tell me what you thought about it :) It was originally going to be published right after chapter one, but I'm on a road trip and WiFi is a lottery :D**


	3. Scared to Death

**This chapter was really fun to write! Hope you enjoy it :)**

 **Chapter 3**

Scared to Death

My hands start to tremble. _Breathe Chloe, breathe._ I force shaky breaths in and out of my lungs. _Snap, snap._ My eyes dart around the woods, searching for the offender. I creep towards the source, fingers fumbling for the switchblade in my jacket pocket. I crouch down, certain I've found the spot."What the hell...?"

Four sticks, each broken neatly in half, ly in a row. And there are no footprints.

My necro radar starts to flash warning signals, confirming that whatever is out here certainly isn't alive.

I stand, knees slightly bent, and turn aroun-

"Boo!" I jump back, screaming and slashing my knife in the air, only to be met by a familiar Minnie Mouse nightshirt and giraffe socks. I turn bright red.

"Liz! Why did you scare me like that? And what was with the sticks?!" As glad as I am to see her, how can you not be upset when your deceased friend scares the living daylights out of you?

"I'm glad I'm not still alive, because I definitely wouldn't be after _that._ " She giggles, looking from me to the still outstretched switchblade in my hands. I flush and hastily put it away. "Oh, sorry 'bout the sticks, it's just I kinda missed the feeling of making footsteps, and I thought it would be less scary if you had some kind of warning that I was here..." Liz looks up at the canopy of leaves, eyes holding a dreamy quality as she reminisces about sounds. "So, how's the gang?" She snaps back into the world of the living (quite literally) and tilts her head to look around, searching for people that aren't here.

"I'm out on my own now, y'know? Decided to go camping...had some plans..." _like not losing my mind and getting them all killed_ , is what I don't say. My voice sounds hollow, and I try to plaster a smile on my face to seal the deal. She's not convinced and doesn't hide it; it's not the best lie I've ever told. Thankfully, she doesn't press for details, but I know it's only a matter of time before she does. I rub the tender spot on my belly absently, thinking of what I'll have to do. _Oh God, I'll have to show her._ I push those troubling thoughts out of my head. A devious smile graces Liz's face as her eyes follow the wisps of my hair.

"What?" I suddenly feel self-conscious. _Did a bird poop on my head?_

 _"Well..._ I was thinking... since you're on your own now... how about a whole new look?"

...

I push aside the branches so I could get a good look outside the forest. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" I whisper.

"Of course it is!" She's practically yelling in my ear. "You just run acro-"

"Shhhhhh!" I viciously interrupt, reminding her to be quiet. She raises her eyebrows as if to say, " _Ghost, remember?_ " She clears her throat and looks at me, waiting to continue. Heat creeps up my neck. I nod, ready to listen.

"Okay, so you just run across this itty bitty highway, walk to the truck rest stop welcome center (it's a nice one with showers and little souvenir stores), and I'll meet you by the cash register." She looks at me, practically squealing with delight. "And then you're going to get a whole new make over!"

"Okay, yeah, but... how much will this cost me?" I'm still hesistant about the plan... so much could go wrong. I check to make sure my hair is all tucked in my hoody, and I finger my dark sunglasses for the hundredth time. Butterflies flit around in my stomach. _Is it really worth the trouble?_

"Don't worry about it!" She shoos me away, cutting off my objections as she leaves in a blur of light. _Ugh... poltergeists._ I take one last peek through the vegetation before heading out. The plan unfolds.

 _ **Stage One: The Crossing**_

This was the most straightforward part of the plan. I emerged from the forest and onto the yellow grass by the road, and looking both ways like a good girl, crossed the deserted highway. I mentally check the box in my head. _Done._

 _ **Stage Two: Teddy Bears**_

It's still early in the evening, so there are no trucks parked in the rest area yet. _Good, less people to see me._ I manage an awkward cross between running and walking (it looks more like a limp) to the welcome center. I'm finally at the entrance, and I pull the glass double doors.

No luck.

I pull harder, but it still doesn't open. Part of me panics as I silently freak out. _The doors can't be locked! It's open 24-hours! Where's Liz?_ As my fears play ping pong in my head, something shiny catches my eye. In glossy black letters I read:

 _Push_

I swallow and wish I could bang my head against a wall. _Duh!_ I push the door open, looking behind my shoulder, wondering if anybody was there to witness my complete and utter failure as a human being. _I am the reason blondes have a bad rep._ I take a breath and shake out my humiliated thoughts. The plan! I look around the tiled indoors of the welcome center and whistle. It really was nice in here. Food counters lined the back, an obviously good restroom was tucked in the corner, and a cute souvenir store was on my left. I headed in that direction.

"Teddy bears, teddy bears, teddy bears..." I mutter to myself, scanning each aisle of randomness. "Found it!" There, lying next to the biggest teddy bear in the store, was a shopping basket already stocked with supplies and a ribbon tied around the handle. I bask in the glow of my small victory. If that wasn't what Liz was talking about, I don't know what is. Another box is checked off in my head.

 _ **Stage Three: The Cash**_

I take my basket up to the front, worried about the substantial dent this is going to make in my funds. Mixed in I can see one sweatshirt, a necklace, granola bars, fruit leather, a bottle of water, and a keychain teddy bear, and that is only what I can _see._ True to her word, Liz is there to meet me, but she is literally _by the cash register._ Confused but trying not to show it, I gingerly place the basket on the counter. The cashier is a gruff guy, large in both height and width. His red shirt barely makes it past the basketball shaped lump that is is his stomach, and his matching hat hangs precariously off his head. Liz looks absolutely evil as she grins, and I can tell she is enjoying this way too much. She puts her fingers to her lips and then points to the basket, mouthing out "Look away," as the guy unloads the stuff. Whatever is in here, she wants it to be a surprise.

"That's it, you're total is-" Liz knocks his hat off and onto the floor. She kicks it for good measure. Without his hat, his thinning hair and glaring bald spot are exposed, and I find it hard to peel my eyes away. He seems to know what this does to people too, because in an instant he is on the floor with an agility unforseen in a man of such magnitude. I distantly hear Liz clicking away at the machine, but my attention has shifted to the pursuit of the red hat. In a minute, he emerges, head firmly in hat, and avoids my eyes. "Okay... you're total is... five dollars," his voice rises at the end, more like a question, and the confusion in his eyes mirrors my own. He doesn't say anything else though, which is kind of odd. I know he knows it's the wrong price, but he clearly doesn't want to spend another second with me. I wordlessly hand him the cash, take the receipt, and leave with my items. He even let me keep the basket.

 _ **Stage Four: Fabulous!**_

Done with the souvenir shop, I see Liz wildly gesturing me towards the bathrooms. By now, I am burning with curiosity. She still hasn't told me what happens from here. I follow her, and after the door closes behind me, I hear the turning of a lock. "Don't want anyone else coming in here," she explains. I nod my head in agreement.

"Liz?"

"Yeah."

"Do you realize we just robbed a souvenir store?"

I get a real look for that one. "The way I see it, we're just evening it out. I watched that guy charge a girl ten dollars for gum. Ten dollars! This makes up for all the people he's screwed."

I'm not fully on board, but a thought strikes me. "How did you get all of the stuff in the basket without anyone noticing?" A bunch of floating items stacking themselves in a basket...that's going to raise alarms.

"The guy took a smoke break. Five whole minutes to myself in a store!" She sounds delighted. She's rummaging through the basket, and after finding what she's looking for, points me towards the showers. "I thought we could dye your hair. That way, whoever you're running from won't recognize you." Her reason surprises me... _I never told her I was running away!_

"H-how did you k-know?"

She looks at me with sad eyes. "Chloe, I've helped you escape before. I know when you're running."

And with that, I let her lead me towards the shower.

...

When I emerge, I practically run to the mirrors. _What color, what color, what color?_ I stop dead in my tracks.

My hair...

It's a dark, dark brown, so dark it looks black, until the last four inches or so... _Oh my gosh, I have light blue ends!_

I'm unrecognizable. The blue ends bring out my blue eyes, and the darkness of the brown is perfect against my skin. I'm almost glad Liz messed with the price, because color of this quality would have cost me a fortune.

"So, what do you think?" Liz is trying to sound indifferent but I can hear the pride in her voice. She should be proud; I look fabulous!

"I love it!" I'm glowing with happiness. I feel warm inside; Liz didn't just color my hair, she gave me a new identity. She helped me distance myself from what I'm running away from without asking why. She helped me forget about what I've lost for a whole day.

And for that, I will always owe her.


	4. Derek: Predatory Instinct

**Chapter 4**

Derek: Predatory Instinct

The wind whispers her name.

The leaves sighs with her memory.

The ground bears her footprints like sacred script.

And I walk alone, reading the signs, the burden of loneliness the only thing to keep me company.

…

As humiliating as it is to play the part of a blood hound, I keep my nose to the ground and continue. The Change sapped most of my strength, but I won't, I _can't_ , rest without making at least a little bit of progress. I absorb each smell like a sponge, greedy for more, but before long my muscles are quivering with exhaustion. The wolf inside me growls at my weakness, pushing me forward in rage, but it's too late. I fall to the ground, succumbing to the sleep I desperately need.

When I wake, now late into the night, I break into a lope, only to stop dead in my tracks. Something sharp and salty, aged though, invades my nostrils… along with something else, something I can't quite describe. I don't let the last part bother me, so instead I creep forward, letting my senses lead me, until I finally find what I'm looking for. _Blood – her blood._ I start to panic. A root sticks out of the ground and dry blood speckles the dirt… it doesn't look she lost a lot of blood, but it was a good scrape. I'm relieved that a couple drops of blood is all I find – I didn't even realize until now that I had expected to find a corpse. I still feel guilty though. _This is all my fault. Who's going to protect her now?_ She's stubborn – always telling me she can look out for herself, that she doesn't need me to be her bodyguard, but her actions say what her words cannot. I push my thoughts away, ready to continue, when the other, unfamiliar smell assaults me. I can't place it, and the cold weight of dread drops into my stomach. I can't shake off the ominous feeling; something isn't right here, but I was too distracted to notice before. The hair on my back rises. Clarity comes.

 _No, no, no, no, no! How could I have ignored this?_

I crouch in a defensive stance. This has all gone wrong… I silently curse Chloe. _You just HAD to come this way, didn't you? Running away wasn't enough?_

I groaned (a difficult feat in my current form) before the sound of paws on the soft earth made its way to my ears. She didn't sound happy. I knew I was screwed. Why?

I was on a wildcat's territory.

That one, small fact rang through my head before I heard the screeching, so loud my ear drums shattered, and massive talons took a chunk out of my right shoulder. I roared, facing my attacker, white canines flashing like knives. I could see the swishing of her tail, the fury in her eyes. She was absolutely terrifying. I could feel the blood oozing out of my wounds, matting in my fur. Growling, we circled each other, eyes locked in a death stare. I lunged for her, feinting at the last second, but she was one step ahead. She swiped at me, but I was faster. It continued, one making a move, the other dodging out of the way, me managing to scratch her up just as much as she scratched me. I, however, had the upper hand. I had just woken up, and the fact that I was well rested put me one peg higher than her. The strain this was putting on her was visible. She slipped, a moment of indecision, and I struck. My teeth sank into flesh, blood running in my mouth. I didn't feel bad because I did it, I felt bad because I _enjoyed_ it. The tastes and the scents made my brain go haywire, processing all the information I could gather about her at once. Pictures and images flashed through the wolf part of my mind, not quite translating into what I could understand, but I had that nagging feeling again in my conscience that something was up.

I didn't have the chance to complete the thoughts I was having when she got up for more. _What is going on? Why doesn't she just let me leave? I don't want to fight her…_ For the second time that day, clarity hit me so hard I almost forgot to dodge her next attack. _She had cubs!_ That was the lingering smell on her, the aftertaste in her blood. I could smell them on her; I could almost see their furry faces, peering at me, silently begging me not to kill their mother. A war raged within me, the wolf said to finish her off, the human said to have mercy. Isn't that the ultimate battle? Man or beast? It would be so easy… her mistakes were more often and progressively getting worse. She was on the brink of exhaustion. I pounced, lips pulled back in a snarl, mouth opening to make the killing blow, aiming for the softness of her throat.

" _Derek…"_ a soft voice crooned in my ear. I jumped back, startled, but I kept my eyes on my prey.

"… _you're better than this…"_ The voice continued, gentle and sweet. My eyes frantically looked around, searching for the source. I turned my head back and yelped.

A small, pale hand was grazing the top of my foe's head. Long strawberry blonde hair fell around her shoulders, framing her delicate face like an angel. She was barefoot, dressed in a pale blue sundress, looking at me with those big, sad eyes. My heart tripped over itself, yanking at the depths of my soul. It couldn't be her. Impossible. I crept back, shutting my eyes and opening them again.

They were both gone.

But at least I had the scars to remember that one of them was real.

Fat raindrops began to fall from the sky, streaking down my face like tears. The sky darkened, threatening me with its dark gloom. It reminded me of another day, in another world, a different me…

 _Flashback_

 _It was a cold, gloomy morning. The sky overhead seemed to mourn with me, raindrops pitter-pattering on the cement, all the way up to the hard, unforgiving earth of the cemetery. My father and I walked in hateful silence; his unrealistic accusations from the night before rattled around in my brain like the empty bottles of alcohol rolling on the floor of our house._

He's right, _I think._ It's all my fault. _I slip deeper into the sadness that consumes me. I keep thinking that she'll be there when I get home, that this is all a bad dream, but I'm already too smart to believe those fantasies. I wish life was a math equation; with the right rules and properties, you will always reach the right answer. This isn't math. It's something infinitely more complicated and painful, no set outcome or predetermined answer. That's what I hated the most. It was just so unpredictable._

 _Like how one night you're sitting, listening to a bedtime story, and the next day you're attending a funeral._

 _I dimly recall the words the priest said at the grave, but I wasn't listening anymore. I just keep my eyes on the casket, willing it to go away. I look down at my handful of dirt, wet with tears, trapped in my hand._

" _Honey, you have to cast it onto the grave," a tall woman whispers as she leans down beside me, probably a friend of my mother's. She tosses her handful of dirt as an example. My fat toddler fingers won't budge._

" _Your mother would have wanted you to let go," frustration creeps into her voice. She tries to pry open my hand, and the look she gives me… Part of me snaps. I was sick of the pity, the "I'm sorry" and "What a shame" that came out of everyone's lips. I was sick of that silent, judging look on everyone's faces when they saw me and my father._

" _You have no idea what Mommy would've wanted!" I spit, throwing the dirt in her face. I don't stay to look at the shocked expression that is no doubt on her face. I run away, feet slick against the wet grass, and I feel the yawning chasm of despair inside me open wider. I was alone now._

 _Truly alone._

 _End of flashback_

I walked on, bloodied and wounded, to a small creek. I knew she had been here, the forest screamed at me that she had. _I am losing my mind._ I didn't see her; it was most definitely in my head. Still, she haunted me, her voice snaking through my mind, keeping me awake when all I needed right now was to sleep. There was no way to clean my wounds in this form, they were definitely infected, but all I could think of was how much more painful this was going to make the Change back. My face contorted at the thought.

For the second time, I howled. Rage, frustration, and grief bubbling out of me and to the sky. I felt hot, feverish. Over-exhausted. I sank to the ground, eyes playing tricks on me.

Just before my eyes closed, I could have sworn I felt the feathery whisper of a hand on my back.

 **If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review! Constructive criticism, thoughts, ideas... it all helps and makes me a better writer.**

 **Love,**

 **\- Rainbow Cornflake :)**


	5. Dripping From Every Pore

**Chapter Five:**

Dripping From Every Pore

 _The wind bit at my neck and tore at my clothes. I wrapped my arms around my waist as I fought for each step towards my destination. Ominous clouds gathered on the horizon, pushing me forward with the need to find shelter. I dared to look up, and the dark outline of an old Victorian house whispered to me to come closer. Stumbling up the steps, I raised my cold and numb hand to knock on the splintered door, only to find it was already open..._

 _I slammed the door shut as I walked into my new abandoned house and wiped my feet on an ancient doormat. The lights were all out, but the wind sounded distant and I felt safe in my new setting. I rummaged through a couple kitchen drawers until I found a dusty flashlight and some spare batteries to tuck in my pocket. "What do you want to do, Chloe?" I muttered to myself. I peeked through the curtains knowing that I'd be trapped here for a while. I flicked on my flashlight and decided to explore. Mice scuttled through the walls whIle I walked down the hall, and a delicate tapping, no - it was more like the rustle of a paintbrush on canvas or the scratching of a pencil - started to follow me. I twirled around, the rays of my light scattering the shadows away from me, but nothing was there. For the first time, unease began to claw its way through my heart. My pace quickened._

 _"AHHHHHHHH!" I screamed._

 _Hands were clawing through the floor, bringing me down, scraping me across the wet walls, ripping, shreddi-_

 _I looked down at the tangled mess of a dilapidated cloth of a rug that laid at my feet. Such a klutz. I brushed off the back of my jacket, my fingers covered in a red wetness._

 _. . . .tap._

 _I couldn't ignore the sounds any longer. Fear had overrided my thoughts and I couldn't breathe. I ran, desperate to get away from this room, and I locked myself within the walls of what I supposed to be an office. A lamp lay plugged into the wall and my fingers fumbled for a switch, my whole body praying for light. It flickered and stayed lit, casting a lazy orange glow into my surroundings. I sank to the floor and tucked my head between my knees._

 _. . ._

 _it was louder, closer..._

 _"Come back..." a voice whispered._

 _My neck twisted around to a dark hooded figure in the corner. He was writing on the walls, quick neat strokes that stained the room with their poison. I looked around me and realized they weren't just words but names...dates...written in red...the man stopped writing. He turned to me, gnarled fingers covered in blood._

 _My body went rigid with fear._

 _"Why did you do this to me?" He wailed, arms swinging as he reached for me, coming within inches of my face._

 _"I d-d-didn't do a-anything..." I stuttered, choking on my own tongue for breath._

 _The hood dropped and I smelt the rotting, bloated flesh before I saw it. Swollen eyes and peeling skin stared back at me, but they paled in comparison to the words I could read on the walls through the bullet hole in his skull. " ... Dr. Davidoff..." I breathed._

 _"Come back, my daughter." Yellowed, blackened teeth fell out of his smile._

 _"Y-you are n-not my DAD!" I shrieked._

 _"I had more of a role in your creation than HE did," his voice slithered out of his decaying body. "You need me now..."_

 _"W-why?"_

 _Milky, sightless eyes peered into my soul with the intensity of the living. "Because you have the sickness and we have the cure." And the painted words bled together in the blood of their victims, walls crashing down on me, washing me with waves of the dead._

When I opened my eyes, no one could hear my muffled screams through the strange hands over my mouth.


End file.
